Not Quite a Dream
by SveaR
Summary: Jess' day off didn't go to plan, but for her the outcome couldn't be better.


Jess woke up feeling dizzy, she slowly opened her eyes, but shut them seconds later due to a pounding pain in her temple.

The young woman was confused; she couldn't remember going to bed. The last thing Jess could think of was her day off.

She had wanted to enjoy the day outside; it had been a perfect autumn day: sun shining, leaves falling from the trees, covering the world in colors. Jess had wrapped herself up in a warm coat and had gone for a walk alongside a lake in a park just outside the city.

The last moment she remembered was that the sun had been blinding her, after that everything was blank.

Fighting the urge to sleep again, she slowly started to mentally check her body. She was freezing, she had a headache, her body was aching like she had stiff muscles and she felt utterly exhausted.

Jess opened her eyes wearily again, to see where she was exactly. She knew that she was lying in a bed which wasn't, according to the smell, hers. And there was a scent that seemed familiar to her, rather comforting for that matter.

It kept her from panicking when she processed that someone was lying behind her, someone in whose arms she was wrapped in protectively.

Carefully, she turned around and recognized Becker beside her. Drawn to his body warmth, she snuggled closer to him and he buried his head in her hair at her movement.

Still cloudy-minded, Jess wasn't able to figure if she was dreaming or not, but if it was all a dream, it was the best she had in a while.

Within seconds she was fast asleep again.

* * *

Two hours later, Becker sat beside the bed Jess was curled up in. He hadn't planned on falling asleep next to her; it had just happened. But with most of his nights sleepless and three anomaly alerts in one day, it was probably perfectly understandable to fall asleep in the instant when his head hit a pillow, Becker thought to himself.

The Head of Security had been relieved to find Jess still sleeping in his arms when he woke up. He had carefully slipped out of bed and sat down on an armchair, enough space between them for the situation to be innocuous.

Somewhere deep inside, he admitted that he had enjoyed holding her, that he had wished to do it in a normal situation. But his rational thinking took over in an instant. He was well trained to not let dreamy thoughts carry him away. They worked at the ARC; they dealt with dinosaurs and other creatures for their living, both their lives far from being normal.

He persuaded himself that she needed a normal guy, with a normal job, someone who could give her a constant in her life, not someone who was risking his life daily.

His thoughts were interrupted when Jess stirred in the bed. When her eyes flew open, Becker was at her side immediately and grabbed her hand.

"Hey sleepy head!" he greeted her with a soft voice.

* * *

When Jess woke up again, she instantly recognized that the arms, which had been holding her before, were gone; the other side of the bed was empty.

The pain in her head had decreased to a minimum, but the one in her muscles still remained, she didn't feel as cold as she had before and she still couldn't recall much.

Now with Becker gone, panic rose inside her and her eyes flew open. Much to her relief, Becker appeared beside her, taking her hand in his gently.

"Hey sleepy head!" he said as her eyes met his.

Jess only answered with a smile before she let her gaze wander around the room. There was a wardrobe on one wall and a small table with two chairs on another one. An armchair stood under a window close to the bed, and the bed was a double bed. Somehow it looked like a hotel room.

"Where am I?" Jess asked quietly.

"In a small hotel. We brought you here. Jess, can you remember anything?"

"No, not really," the brunette answered before she sat up a little. "I went for a walk, it was my day off, the sun was blinding me and after that I can't remember anything."

"Oh, I felt really cold at some point!" She added to her list after a short break.

Becker took a cup of steaming tea from the little table and handed it to the girl in front of him. He took a seat on her bed, forgetting all his former thoughts.

"There was an anomaly at that lake, with a creature incursion. It was some kind of Mer, Connor said, but smaller than the one they had seen a few years back."

Jess' eyes widened, "How's Abby?"

"She's fine, was shocked though." There was a small pause before Becker went on. "I found your handbag on the bank and we started looking for you immediately. One of the Mers must have pulled you into the water. We found you in shallow water close to the anomaly. You were drenched and shivering badly. That's why you remember feeling cold, I guess.

"We brought you here; I thought it might be better to bring you inside quickly instead of waiting for an ambulance that would have had to drive through half of the city first. Claire, a medic from the ARC checked on you. She said other than being under-cooled you should be fine."

Jess stared at the cup in her hands, processing the given information. "That's why you were in bed with me?" The Field Co-coordinator covered her mouth with one hand and turned bright red. "I didn't mean it like it came out. I know you weren't in bed with me. Well you were, but not like it sounded obviously," Jess looked down at herself to avoid looking at Becker. That's when she saw the oversized t-shirt she was wearing, "and there is a perfectly reasonable explanation why I'm wearing a t-shirt that isn't mine, actually more likely one of yours, since it's black."

"Jessica," Becker interrupted her rambling, "Abby got you out of your wet clothes. I had a spare t-shirt in the SUV. That's why you are wearing it. And since we hadn't had a hot water bottle, Claire said the easiest way to warm you up was body warmth. That's why I was lying beside you."

A faint red crept across his neck at his next words, "You know I would have done the same for everyone right?"

"Sure, it's your job after all, to keep all of us alive I mean."

Becker eyed her attentively. She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes, disappointment was shining through them.

Knowing that he was the reason for it again allowed him throw his cautions in the wind. If Abby and Connor could make it work, why not him and Jess?

"Jess," the soldier took her hand in his again. "I'm not good with feelings and stuff like that. But..."

A chill ran over Jess' body, which made her shake visibly, at his touch, his tone and most of all his words.

"Are you cold?" Becker forgot about his started sentence.

The brunette thought about her answer a moment, "Yes, I am."

"Do you want some more tea? I could get you some?"

Jess should have known Becker wouldn't be able to read between the lines so she went out on a limb a little more.

"No, but maybe you could hold me again? Your warmth worked wonders before." She winked at him and he gladly accepted the given help.

"Now that sounds like a good idea!" Becker said as he moved closer to Jess, pulling her against his body and placing a soft kiss in her hair.

"Don't worry so much Becker. If Connor and Abby can make it work, why shouldn't we be able?"

Becker smiled at her words that only echoed his thoughts from before. "You have a point!"


End file.
